A detailed study of the botfly, with 6 hand-coloured plates

Numan, Alexander. Waarnemingen omtrent de horzel-maskers, welke in de maag van het paard huisvesten.

Amsterdam, C. G. Sulpke, 1834.

4to. (2), 143, (1) pp. With 6 hand-coloured engraved plates (1 folding, 5 full-page) by D. Sluyter after H. van Oort. Contemporary stiff grey wrappers.

 2,500.00

Rare separate issue of Numan's detailed and beautifully illustrated study of the larvae of the equine botfly (family Oestridae), an internal parasite of horses. Alexander Numan (1780-1852) discusses the different species of botfly found in the stomachs of horses, the way the eggs are transferred to the intestines, their growth and development, the effect on the health of the host animal, and the various ways they may be removed. The essay appeared both in the Nieuwe Verhandelingen der eerste klasse van het Koninklijk-Nederlandse Instituut van Wetenschappen, and in the present, much rarer separate issue, where only the plates refer to the journal.

Numan completed his medical studies at Groningen in 1804. He wrote a prize-winning essay on the Keil dysentery epidemic of 1810, which appeared in 1812. In the same year he was asked to translate a veterinary manual and later to write his own, which went through five editions from 1819 to 1856. When the first Dutch veterinary school opened at Utrecht in 1821, no suitable professor could be found in the practice, and the position went to Numan. He went on to write many excellent articles, the best known of which discusses cow pox (1831).

Wrappers slightly damaged at spine, but still very good. A fine copy of a rare and well-illustrated essay by a pioneering veterinary researcher.

References

KVK (1 copy). NCC (4 copies). Not in Garrison/M., Landwehr Coloured Plates, Nissen ZBI.

Stock Code: BN#29088 Tags: , , , ,